College: Part 3

There are only a few truly Fundamental Questions you must consider in order to properly homeschool your children. Answering the question, “Who is this child?” may be the most important one of all. And, it must be answered.

If you are following a traditional 12-year, K-12 model of educating your child, you have already answered the question without even knowing it. And, if the “end product” of your child’s education is college entrance, you have missed the point of homeschooling altogether.

College should never be assumed, as was the case in my family. No thought was ever given to the person God had made me, probably because no one in my family thought about God or what He had to do with the future of His child. As a result, I entered the system of public education to be treated as a typical, generic child whose “blank slate” had to be filled with all the same info as every other child. Then, I went to college…

The explosion of online K-12 programs, now being marketed to homeschooling families, is an indication that a good many homeschooling parents are not thinking about the person God has made each of their children to become. What they care about is making their children educated and college-ready.

Times they are a-changing. When we began homeschooling, no publisher would sell materials to us so we had to come up with our own. Today, everyone is getting in on the act of creating online curricula. Even a U.S. Congressman has created an online K-12 curriculum. But, the growing presence of top level colleges offering online high school is something amazing. Examples are the nation’s 10th rated university and the world’s largest Christian university. Even Harvard University offers its summer program to high schoolers. Homeschoolers are a huge market and a way to create an easy path to a particular college once the student has graduated from that college’s online high school. Each program claims to be a vast improvement over what a child will receive in public school. That may be so, but it still does not answer The Question.

For years, we who have homeschooled (and speak or write about homeschooling) are continually asked, “What program (or curriculum) do you recommend that will provide my child with the best education?”

That is the absolutely wrong question!

Before you ask, “What is the best program to teach my child Algebra 2” or “How do I get my child to stop resisting being homeschooled?” begin asking, “Given what God has been showing me He has created this child to do in life, how can I best nurture those giftings and talents?”

If you are wondering, “What kind of question is that! you will find the answer in my book: Chapter 1 (and I will eventually say more about it in following blogs).

After you have gotten your answer from Him, you can check out my recommendations for some good teaching materials.

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Responses

Oh .. you are so right (again!). My 16 year old son has been homeschooled and is taking 3 credits this semester at the Christian High School. Between the commute, homework, at-home assignments he no longer has any time to continue pursuing his true passions. He is excelling academically but I can see how families can easily loose track of what God “has created this child to do in life”. He could easily get into college with these grades but without the time to find his passions how would he possibly follow God’s call on his life.
Thanks for the reminder Chris!

How do you teach (or direct) your child when you don’t know what God has created him to do? Or when you feel there is something, but it is not within your power to give him those experiences/chances? Until now I have just been working to make sure all of my children like to learn and can teach themselves, but is there another answer?

Dear CamsShel: The question you have asked is extremely important; however, I don’t feel I have enough detail and I don’t want to simply guess at what you need to know. Can you be more specific (say, in an email).? Write me at ChrisDavis@PioneerHomeschooler.com. If that doesn’t suffice, we can always speak by phone. CD